Ten only climber as Seven and Nine’s ad revenues plummet for second half of 2015

Advertising revenues at the Seven and Nine Networks plunged by $32m and $18m respectively between June and December 2015 compared to the year before, according to new figures from Free TV Australia.

Network Ten recorded a 13% revenue increase to $359.7m from $317m the year before, off the back of much stronger ratings in the second half for shows like The Bachelor and Bachelorette.

Overall the metropolitan commercial free-to-air TV market was down by $5.5m, or 0.34%, to $1.549bn compared to the year before. Seven’s ad revenue fell to $596.4m for the half from $628m the previous year, while Nine slipped from $609.4m to $591.7m.

The latest figures show Nine came within half a percentage point of Seven in terms of commercial share, with 38.2% compared to Seven’s 38.5%.

The result is also Seven’s lowest second half revenue share since 2012, and its lowest commercial share since the second half of 2012.

Ten’s improved performance comes after the free-to-air network recorded its best TV ratings share since 2011, and after it rolled its sales team in with sales house MCN as part of a 15% investment from Foxtel.

In a statement Ten CEO Paul Anderson, said: “The [MCN] partnership has been a success since day one and is generating strong results. Together, TEN and MCN are delivering brand-safe premium video across multiple platforms, in a world-class trading environment, with real and measurable data. That proposition is unparalleled in the television market.”

Regional TV was worst hit with a drop off of 6.59% in revenues for the half, to $423m overall with South Australia dropping 10.12%, West Australia 9.39% and Victoria 9.19%.

Perth was the only metropolitan market to record growth, up 5.27% to $190m while Sydney remained the biggest overall market with revenues of $574m, down 0.48% on last year.

Alex Hayes is the editor of Mumbrella. He's been a journalist for more than a decade working on newspapers and websites in the UK and Australia, covering the media and marketing sector for the past four years.

Don’t agree that all the success was due to MCN…..lets not forget that the short term market in TV only accounts for less than a third of revenues…..so a big part of the growth was pre-sold when TEN sales was still in house.
PLUS MCN did get the gift of audience growth to turn into cash….